Ceremonial for Priests

Here is the book to provide you with the directions and indications needed to carry out the various rites found in the liturgical books of the Catholic Church. This manual aims to restore the grammar and syntax to the body language demanded by the celebration of Mass, the sacraments, and sacramentals. The scope is limited to those rites that the typical parish clergy are most likely to celebrate on a regular basis. It will assist priests and all those who exercise liturgical ministries with a detailed description of liturgical celebrations commonly found in parishes.

Msgr. Caron’s approach draws upon the traditional practice of the Roman Rite as it pertains to the postures and gestures of the various rites. It takes into consideration the immemorial customs that have grown up around the public worship of the Roman Catholic Church.

The General Instruction on the Roman Missal provides the framework for the way Mass is to be celebrated. Along with the rubrics, the General Instruction describes what is to be done by the priest celebrant, the other ministers, and the faithful. However, unlike previous editions, the Missal of Paul VI provides very little detail as to how a given action is to be carried out. Rather, it assumes that the traditional practice of the Roman Rite through the centuries informs the current celebration of Mass.

This principle of interpretation has been made clear only in the third edition of missal in 2002; it helps to define the proper body language of Mass, just as the spoken and sung texts have their own respective grammar and syntax. As such, Ceremonial for Priests is the heir to the various commentaries on the rubrics found in multiple languages prior to the Second Vatican Council. In these pages, you will find:

• A consistent vision of what a renewed ars celebrandi (art of celebration) might look like today (You may be surprised!)
• Parallel instances of similar gestures from the tradition that inform the descriptions of how a given gesture might be carried out now
• How to restore unity through the proper celebration of liturgy
• How to interpret the traditional practice of the Roman Rite and why the details matter
• Why the liturgical action is taking place (Can you guess?)
• Helpful diagrams and ways to enhance the spiritual good of worshippers

Ceremonial for Priests functions as a starting point for all those who wish to take seriously the need to offer God the worship due to Him in the beauty of holiness.

Monsignor Marc B. Caron, S.T.D., is the vicar general and the moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Portland, ME. He has served as a pastor, as the director of the diocesan Office for Worship, and as a chancellor of the diocese. Most recently, he was a member of the faculty of St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, MA, where he was also director of liturgy. In 2021, he received the doctoral degree from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, writing on the sacramental nature of the diaconate. He is the author of a number of articles which have appeared in The Jurist, Worship, Catechumenate, and Homiletic and Pastoral Review.